The Only Thing Worse Than Dying
by WatsonSword
Summary: Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind. At least that's what Stitch used to think, but a new revelation may challenge that old notion. Plesae R
1. The Awesomest Movie Ever

Lilo and Stitch:

The Only thing Worse than Dying

By WatsonSword

**As many are already aware, there are several Lilo Stitch fanfics that tackle the issue of Stitch having an extraordinary lifespan, and far outliving everyone he knows. I read several of them and well... I couldn't handle it. It sent me into a depressive slump that culminated in me being unable to eat. I finally decided that the only way I was going to get over this was if I wrote my own "counter-fic", so to speak, to the others that dealt with this issue. Don't worry, this story will have a happy ending (It has to, otherwise I would never be able to get over the other ones that didn't.)**

Lilo and Stitch and all related characters are copyright Disney. I claim no ownership of said franchise or related characters, nor do I claim the right to any form of profit from this story.

This story is strictly to be provided to the public for free and under no conditions..

* * *

It was a typical day in the little town of Kokua. Partly cloudy, very windy, not very many tourists since Kokua was so small. The ones that were there were known quite well since they returned to that same town, did the same thing, all during the same time of year, every year. 

A fat, sunburnt tourist walks down the beach holding an ice cream cone, but drops it when he gets hit in the back of the head with a beach ball.

A short old woman selling fresh produce in a street cart cuts back her prices for the third time this month, wondering why she's not getting any customers, seemingly unaware that she parked her cart right outside the grocery store.

A young couple on a perpetual honeymoon ran about the town and the surrounding land and beach, the husband snapping photos of anything and everything that remotely got his attention, and the islanders had given him a few marks to show for it.

There were a few surfers at the beach, although one of them seemed to be doing much worse than any of the others. This may have been due to the fact that he was trying to ride waves while simultaneously eating a slice of pizza, or it may have been due to the fact that he was probably more stoned than everyone else on that beach put together.

The only thing that did seem out of the ordinary was some famous ex Baltimore TV star turned travel show host, who had a camera crew at a local diner stand, explaining that someone, somewhere in this town had somehow trained a monkey to cook three star meals in seven minutes or less.

If he only knew the truth…

Finally, at the Pelekai household, Lilo and Stitch had just finished watching a movie called Highlander, whom Pleakly had picked out for them to broaden their entertainment horizons beyond sixties B monster flicks.

Pleakly was in the kitchen washing dishes and humming to himself when suddenly.

"Pleakly!" Lilo yelled so loud as she and Stitch ran into the kitchen that Pleakly jumped up in shock and dropped the plate to the ground, breaking it.

Pleakly immediately turned around and yelled back, "How many times do I have to tell you, don't frighten me while I'm meditating!"

"I don't think doing the dishes counts as meditating." Lilo said, her head slightly turned in confusion.

"Well that's because you've just never tried it before!" and Pleakly went back to washing plates.

"Uh… huh." Lilo responded, "Now what did come back here for?… Oh yeah! That was the awesomest movie ever Pleakly!"

"Ih" Stitch grunted, "Awesomest ever!"

Pleakly went on without turning his head back to Lilo or Stitch, "Well if you liked that movie, they made three more sequels! Although they had a real problem with continuity in the last two… or at least the guy at the store told me they did."

Lilo's and Stitch's face's both lit up with excitement.

"Wow!" Lilo exclaimed, "Did you hear that! We gotta' go to the video store to get those sequels!"

"Ih! Sequals mega bootifa!" Stitch yelled out raising his hands into the air.

"Sequals to what?"

Lilo and Stitch turned around to see Nani in the doorway to the kitchen, home early from work.

"Well, to Highlander of course!" Said Lilo.

"Highlander!" Nani barely managed to get out the word Highlander as her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Pleakly once again jumped in fright and dropped a dish.

"Who let you see that?"

"Pleakly did." Lilo responded.

Stitch also pointed to Pleakly.

"Pleakly? You let my little sister watch Highlander?"

"Uh… yeah!" Pleakly responded, trying to fake a humble smile, "You said it was one of your favorites didn't you? Soooo… what's wrong with showing it to them?"

It didn't take half a second for Nani to snap back, "I'll tell you what's wrong. It's got swearing! And it's got people getting stabbed! And it's got people cutting other people's heads off! And it's got gratuitous sex! And"

"And that's why it's the awesomest movie ever!" Lilo interrupted.

"Ih! Awesomest ever!" Stitch added.

Nani knelt down and put her hand over Lilo's shoulder. In an only slightly softer voice she said, "And it's definitely not for kids." Nani stoop back up, looking at Pleakly with hands on her hips and a cut-through-your-soul glare on her face. Pleakly still faked a humble smile as he now tried to hide the bottom half of his face behind a plate. "Did you even watch that movie yourself before showing it to Lilo?"

Pleakly gulped, "Well, if by watched you mean, briefly looked at a clip on the video store monitor and then read the preview on the back of the box, than yes! I watched it beforehand."

Nani flung her arms into the air and turned around to leave, just after saying, "From now on Pleakly, any movie you rent for my sister will have to be okayed by me first." And with that, she was gone.

* * *

It was dark. All the clouds had cleared to reveal the star-filled sky, the wind had died down, and Lilo and Stitch lay on the roof of their dome looking up at the sky. 

"Stupid Nani. Won't even let us watch a stupid movie." Lilo grumbled.

Stitch turned his head toward Lilo, "Naga stupid movie. Good movie!"

Lilo continued, "Yeah, that was a good movie." Lilo suddenly turned her head toward Stitch, "Hey! Wouldn't it be cool to live forever?"

"Gaba?"

"I mean, you never grow old, you never die, at least not of old age."

Stitch frowned, "Growing old, naga botifa!"

"But then again," Lilo suddenly got a somber look on her face, "I remember once, I told dad that I wanted to live forever, and he said I shouldn't. I asked him why, and he said the only thing worse than dying is living forever, because you'll outlive everyone you know, and then you'll miss them for all eternity."

Stitch turned his head back toward the sky, staring at the stars.

"Well, I think you should take me back to our room Stitch."


	2. Getting Left Behind

The soft puttering and shuffling of feet could just be heard above the rhythmic clapping of the hands of Moses the hula teacher who was trying to act as a human metronome. Victoria, Myrtle, and her lackey's, so to speak, were all on stage receiving their first lesson in synchronized, close quarters hula.

Moses sat cross-legged on a straw mat, his eyes closed, speaking very softly as he clapped, "Breathing is the key to everything. Neva change the pace of your breath. Always know how those around you are breathing, and breath right along with them. If you can synchronize your breathing, everything else will be easy."

As if on cue, Myrtle stepped on Victoria's foot, knocking them both on top of the little blond girl. The two others jumped at the crashing sound, and in jerking around to see what had caused it, knocked into each other's heads and fell down onto their butts.

Not surprised in the least by the group's spill, Moses stopped clapping and sighed. He opened his eyes and looked at the group.

"It's not my fault! Victoria wasn't breathing with me!" Myrtle shouted immediately before Moses could get in a single word.

"Yes I was!" Victoria countered.

"No you weren't!"

"Yes I was!"

"Girls!" Moses stood up before the argument could turn into something much worse. "Myrtle, it's not the other dancers' responsibility to breath with you. It's the responsibility of each of you to breath with everyone else."

Myrtle stood up, scowled, and folded her arms. "It is their responsibility when I'm the leader of the dance."

"There are no leaders in synchronized hula." Moses countered, "and there are no followers either."

"Well there should be!" Myrtle shouted back, "because that would make it so much easier!"

All five girls jumped as the door to the hula school suddenly burst open and Lilo charged into the room. In her haste, Lilo slipped on the polished floor and fell onto her back.

A few seconds later, Stitch slowly crawled into the room. His ears hung down and he stared off into space as if preoccupied. Nonetheless, he crawled up to Lilo and lifted her back up onto her feet as she rubbed her head.

"Oh great" Myrtle sneered, "and here I thought I was going to have a good day."

"You're late again Lilo, class is halfway over." Moses sighed as he talked.

Myrtle leaned toward Lilo with an arrogant smirk. "What happened? Did you hear the voice of your magical fish in your head saying 'Feed me', 'Feed me'?"

"Hey!" Lilo shouted back.

Myrtle continued as if she didn't hear Lilo. "I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you did."

"That's not funny Myrtle." Moses tried to calm the situation to no avail.

Lilo wrapped her arms around Stitch's neck, still looking at Myrtle. "Stitch had a bad dream, I had to spend the morning trying to comfort him."

Stitch didn't look up as he was hugged, or at Lilo and Myrtle arguing, but simply looked at the floor.

"Yeah right." Myrtle continued, "Dogs don't have dab dreams. The only things dogs dream about are chasing things, eating, and sniffing other dogs' butts!"

At that comment Stitch looked up at Myrtle and started to growl.

"Why you piece of…" Lilo barely got out those words as she let go of Stitch and lunged at Myrtle, hitting her square in the jaw and knocking them both over.

Lilo was about to hit Myrtle again when she found herself hanging in mid-air, wrapped in Moses' huge arm, with Myrtle on the other side of him, wrapped in his other arm.

"Le'me go!" Lilo yelled and struggled, but it was no use. Moses walked outside the door to the hula school and dropped them both onto the dirt ground.

"Lilo, Myrtle" Moses said, "I think it's about time you two go home and think about what you did."

Moses walked back into the hula school and passed the other four girls staring in awe at the scene through the corner of the door, and Stitch running toward Lilo's side. Stitch once again Lifted Lilo to her feet.

"Thanks Stitch." Lilo said as she scratched Stitch behind his right ear.

"Hmmp." Myrtle scoffed once again. "It's a good thing that dogs only live sixteen years. Otherwise I'd have to put up with this crap forever!"

With that, Stitch jumped toward Myrtle, snarling and snapping. Myrtle ran away screaming.

At Myrtle running in the distance, Lilo put her hands to her mouth and shouted, "I hope you get decapitated by a MacLeod!"

At the door to the hula school, the other four girls still peaked out in awe at the scene. "What's a mech cloud?" asked the little blond girl.

"I think it's a robotic cloud… that can decapitate you." Victoria barely had time to get out those words when…

"Girls!" Moses called from inside the hula school, and they vanished from sight, slamming shut the door to the hula school.

Lilo sat down on the mat in front of the door and buried her hands in her face. Stitch slowly walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulder, and Lilo than lay her head on his.

Lilo and Stitch continued to sit like that for several minutes, not moving. At last, Stitch turned his head toward Lilo and asked "Lilo?"

"Yes?" Lilo lifted her head off of Stitch's shoulder and looked back at him.

"Will Stitch only live sixteen years?" Stitch asked

"Stitch" Lilo tried to reassure him, "You're not a dog. You're an alien, evil genius genetic experiment pretending to be a dog. You're gonna live a lot longer than sixteen years."

"How long?" Stitch asked again.

"Well…" Lilo looked up at the sky. "You know how you're almost indestructible?"

"Almost" Stitch nodded. "Not quite."

"Well I'll bet you're almost immortal too. I mean, maybe you won't live forever, but for thousands of years!"

Those words didn't seem to comfort Stitch.

* * *

In a dimly lit room, where there were no windows, the floors and domed walls and ceiling were made of metal, and the world seemed to come alive with the beeping, humming and clicking of computers busy calculating impossibly complex sets of numbers, a great blob in a Hawaiian shirt sat in a cheap polyester office chair and typed furiously into an ovalesque laptop. 

A loud clanking, and then buzzing was heard, just as light poured into the room. A shadow of a long dangly creature pierced the light, shrinking as it came closer and closer to the desk of the great blob.

Finally, Stitch sat down next to Jumba's desk, and the door to the ship closed, returning the darkness. Jumba didn't notice any of this, or rather, he did notice, but paid it no mind.

Stitch was hesitant to say anything to someone who looked so busy. But he had to, so he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Uh… Jumba?"

"Now is time for being quiet 626." Jumba didn't even let Stitch finish his sentence. "Am working on important scientific researchings."

"Stitch has question." Stitch continued to speak. "And it also important."

Jumba turned around and eyed Stitch in a way that didn't make him too comfortable. "More important than finding mathematical formula for to be writing great music?"

"Naga." Stitch shook his head, not wanting to upset his creator. "But formulas can always be done later."

"Ha! Ha! I am thinking you may be being right." Jumba finally smiled, relaxing Stitch in the process, spun around in his chair and closed his ovalesque laptop. "So what is it you are wanting to be knowing?"

Stitch hesitated, he didn't want to ask this, but he knew he had to. After swallowing what little spit was in his mouth, he finally said it. "How long will Stitch live?"

Jumba raised his finger and opened his mouth just about to answer, but then paused. He then closed his mouth and began rubbing his chin.

"If I am remembering correctly." Jumba said, "Earliest experiments are having very short lifespans of approximately twenty seven Earth years. Lifespans were lengthened by great percentage at having reached experiment zero zero nine, and were never altered again after that."

Every moment that passed made Stitch want to quit his inquiry even more, but he had to press on.

"But… how long?" Stitch asked.

Jumba lowered his hand down to his knee. "Am not remembering exactly."

Stitch had to press on. "How long… would Jumba guess?"

"Guessing is illogical, but for sake of to be humoring you, I would guess I would be making experiments living as long as possible. If put mind to it, could be making experiments that live hundred thousand earth years! Ha! Ha! Ha! Is virtually immortal! Well, comparing to primitive earth forms that is."

That was the answer Stitch feared. The words 'hundred thousand Earth years' had caused something inside Stitch to break, though he wouldn't show it, and Jumba seemed to be oblivious to what he just said.

"Okie-taka." Was all Stitch said as he slowly turned around and walked back toward the door to Jumba's ship.

* * *

Stitch looked at the alarm clock on the opposite side of Lilo's dome. It was two thirteen in the morning. While Lilo had been fast asleep for the last four hours, Stitch stayed wide awake in his hammock the entire time, unable to get Jumba's words out of his head. 

Stitch looked just past the alarm clock toward Lilo, zonked out like a log, and snoring softly. Stitch so envied how Lilo could be so at ease, she had no idea what he was going through at that moment.

But Stitch's anxiety couldn't keep him awake forever. The last thing he remembered seeing before drifting to sleep was the alarm clock flashing the numbers 2:47 am.

* * *

The sky was blackened with clouds, but the wind was still and there was not a drop of rain to be seen. On a small grass covered hill in the middle of a flat prairie stood a gnarled old tree and four gravestones. 

Someone was walking up the hill in an all black dress suit, with a black shirt and black fedora. It was Stitch. He was carrying three flowers in his left hand. It was impossible to tell what species of flower they were, or if that species even existed, but they were flowers, and that was all that was important.

Stitch walked up to the first plain gray gravestone. Carved toward the top were the large letters, _'Lilo Pelekai'_. Below that was the phrase, _'Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind'_. Still below that was the phrase, _'The only thing worse than dying, is living forever.'_

Stitch bent down to lay one flower at Lilo's grave. He then got back up and said, "Bye Lilo."

Stitch went to the next grave. _'Nani Pelekai'_ was carved on it.

Stitch bend down to lay one flower at Nani's grave. He then got back up and said, "Bye Nani."

Stitch went to the next grave. _'Pleakly'_ was carved into it.

Stitch bent down to lay one flower at Pleakly's grave. He then got back up and said, "By Pleakly."

Stitch went to the last grave. _'Dr. Jumba Jookiba'_ was carved into it.

Stitch bent down to lay a flower at Jumba's grave, only to find his hands were empty.

"No more flowers." Stitch whispered to himself.

Stitch got up and looked around him. Suddenly, gravestones surrounded him. Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but gravestones, and Stitch standing in the middle of them.

Stitch quickly turned back to Lilo's grave and read the second thing carved into it, _'Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind.'_ But it was lie. At was all one big lie.

All Stitch could do now was scream. "Naga! Naga! Nagaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Naga!" Stitch jumped up in his bed and screamed loud enough to wake everyone in the house.

Stitch sat there for just a few seconds panting heavily, and then noticed the light was on in the dome. He looked off to the side, and Lilo was standing next to his hammock, staring at him in fright.

"Stitch have bad dream." He said, trying to comfort Lilo.

"Come here." Lilo said back.

Stitch hopped out of his bed and walked toward Lilo, who promptly threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. Stitch didn't return the gesture.

Suddenly, the elevator came up, and Nani and Pleakly, both in pajamas, walked into the room and looked at the scene.

"What happened?" Nani asked softly.

"Stitch had a bad dream." Lilo replied.

Stitch had a bad dream. It was true, but Lilo still had no idea what he was going through. But in her embrace, Stitch sadness slowly disappeared. But what replaced it was anger. Anger, hate, and vengeance.

Lilo would know exactly what he was going through. They would all know, soon enough.


	3. Killing one's feelings

Out of nowhere the most annoying buzzing, sawing sound Lilo ever heard rang out from all directions at once. Lilo jumped up and yelped. She couldn't see anything but a light blur from the horrid noise. No. It wasn't the noise; it was something else. Slowly coming to her senses, the directionless buzzing, sawing focused in on an area to her left. Her vision coming to, Lilo saw that it was emanating from the numbers 8:00.

Now her world suddenly made sense. Lilo reached over to the shelf past her bed and turned off her alarm clock. In ten minutes, Lilo was dressed, her hair and teeth brushed and she was headed down the elevator to the kitchen, following the sizzles and smells of Nani making pancakes and bacon.

Lilo walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"You're just in time." Nani said, "I've just finished breakfast so it's still steaming hot."

Nani set down a plate of two pancakes and two slices of bacon in front of Lilo. Lilo reached over the table to grab the butter and syrup, and after thoroughly coating her pancakes said, "Hey do you want some?…"

Lilo spoke across the table only to find no one was sitting at the opposite end.

"Do I want some what?" Nani asked, not looking away from the stove.

Lilo cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes. "Nani? Where's Stitch?" She asked.

Nani then turned around and looked over the kitchen. Stitch was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know." Nani said walking up to the table, but keeping her eyes fixed on some corner in space. "It's not like him to be late for a meal. Then again, I've never seen him freak out like he did last night."

"I'm gonna go look for him." Lilo said, grabbing her plate and running out of the kitchen with it.

Lilo burst out the front door with her plate yelling, "Stitch! Nani made breakfast!… pancakes and bacon!"

After a minute of waiting there was no answer.

Lilo ran back inside, downstairs and shouted, "Stitch! Your breakfast is getting cold!"

After another minute, there was still no answer.

Lilo slowly walked back up to the kitchen, her plate in one hand, and a half eaten slice of bacon in the other. With her head down, she put her plate back on the table and sat down once again.

Nani, clearly concerned, walked over to Lilo and knelt down to be on her level.

Lilo didn't raise her head as she spoke to Nani. "He's not here. I don't get it, he doesn't disappear like this, and he never misses breakfast."

Nani tried to comfort Lilo, putting her hand on her sister's back as she said, "You know, I bet he's probably just in Jumba's ship."

"Impossible!"

Lilo and Nani both jumped at the voice, and looked up to see Jumba in the kitchen entrance.

"Why not?" Lilo asked.

Jumba put his hands on his hips. "Because I was just coming from ship and six-two-six was not there."

Lilo lowered her head again, and began slowly spinning the last slice of bacon on her plate with her finger.

"Lilo" Nani tried once again to comfort her. "I've gotta go to work now. But I promise, as soon as I get home, we'll go get Finder, and then we'll look for Stitch."

Lilo finally raised her head and gave the slightest of smiles. Nani nodded at Lilo, and as she got up to walk out of the kitchen, Lilo began eating her breakfast.

Just outside, hidden behind the many leaves atop a palm tree, a pair of eyes looked at their former dwelling, while a pair of super-sensitive ears listened in on the conversation taking place inside. Upon hearing the word _'Finder'_ Stitch realized his plan wouldn't work. To forever be rid of the love that household showed him would take more than just running away. He would have to find someway to make his ohana, his family, no longer want him. He had to find some way to make his family hate him.

How would he do it? How could Stitch go about making his family abandon him? He sat motionless atop the palm tree for almost half an hour pondering this question. And the answer hit him like a ton of bricks.

* * *

Waterfalls forked, joined, and forked again, cascading down a cliff toward a small pond surrounded by trees and shrubs. In the middle of the pond sat a huge round chink of black metal which Gantu and experiment 625 called home. 

First there was no noticeable activity. Then like a flash, something darted from rock to rock, settling on the boulder just outside the hatch to Gantu's ship. It was Stitch.

Stitch gulped, drooped his ears and sighed. He didn't want to do this, but he seemed to have no other choice. Stitch knocked on the hatch to the ship and waited. After a few minutes nothing, so Stitch knocked again.

Almost as soon as he was done the second time, the hatch lowered letting Stitch inside. At the entrance to the hull, stood experiment 625, who's smug smile was shot off at the sight of him.

"Oh no!" 625 said while backing off. "Please not now. I just got up and I haven't even eaten yet!"

To the surprise and bewilderment of 625, Stitch did not attack him, but looked down at the floor and said, "Stitch not here to fight. Stitch want to join Gantu."

625 couldn't believe what he just heard. His mouth hung wide open and his whole body had gone limp. Stitch slowly walked up to the dumbstruck 625, and reached out his hand toward 625's. Just as Stitch was about to touch hands with 625, the yellow experiment backed away, closed his mouth, and then ran off screaming "GANTU!"

Stitch crept along the entrance to the ship, working his way toward the elevator. When he reached it, he lifted his hand to press the descend button, and then hesitated.

Could he really do this? Turn his back on, and make a sworn enemy of, the only people he ever loved? And the only people who have ever loved him? Thinking back to Lilo's words, thinking back to his nightmare,_ 'The only thing worse than dying is living forever, because you'll outlive everyone you know, and then you'll miss them for all eternity.'_ It was all clear now that what he could or couldn't do no longer had any meaning. There was only what he had to do. After all, Stitch was never meant to love anything, only to kill. And even if by some inexplicable means he found he had the ability to love, well… to a creature like him, surrounded by creatures like humans, that was not an option, as it could only mean endless pain down the road. So Stitch continued.

He pushed the descend button and an empty elevator came down to greet him. Stitch got on and rode it back up the ship's bridge, and when he finally got there, he found a blaster, larger than he was, pointed at his face from only inches away.

"625 tells me a rather unbelievable story" Gantu's voice came from behind the blaster. "But I want to hear it from the source."

Stitch sighed again and said, "Stitch wants to join Gantu and work for Hamsterviel."

"So! Do you believe him or not?" yelled 625, peaking his head out from behind a terminal at the opposite end of the bridge.

Gantu frowned. He then got up, holstered his blaster and turned toward 625. "625! Take our guest here, and throw him in a holding cell!."

"What?" 625 screamed back, "You expect me, to like, physically restrain him, carry him off to a holding cell, put him inside, and then shut it?"

Gantu folded his arms. "Yes, that's exactly what I expect you to do."

625, groaning the entire way, crawled out from behind the terminal, crept up to Stitch, poked him, and then jumped back. Stitch did not react. Creeping up to him, 625 poked Stitch again, and then shoved him. Stitch did not react.

"What are you waiting for?" Gantu grumbled. "He's not even fighting back?"

"Fine! Fine! I'll do it!" 625 responded. "Errr… if it's no problem with you that is."

Stitch shook his head at the question.

625 then, hesitating numerous times, grabbed Stitch and carried him over his shoulder. Finding Stitch totally limp, 625 gained enough confidence to calmly carry him over to the clear, dome-shaped holding cells on the other side of the bridge, drop Stitch inside, and then shut the dome.

"Hey! That wasn't so tough." 625 said with his hands on his hips. "And don't you ever forget it Mr! Oh yeah, I'm the man! Nobody's as good as the good ol' 62…"

"Shut up!" Gantu interrupted.

"Sorry." 625 slouched over as he apologized.

Gantu and 625 walked away chattering about whatever, Stitch paid no attention to what it was, he didn't care what it was. He finally felt some relief from the fear inside him. He was now working for the man his ex-ohana hated most. He was now going to live out the next century or so with a man who would never do anything thoughtful for him, with a man he would never miss.

Stitch curled up on the cold metal floor, reveling in how it seemed to be annoying him, and dulling his sense of affection, much unlike what his soft bed used to do. Stitch was about to fall asleep when suddenly.

"Experiment 241 activated." The computer's voice rang out. "Primary function, analyzing and deciphering codes."

Stitch looked up to see his cell opened and Gantu looking down at him.

"You hear that?" Gantu said. "You want my trust, you'll help me capture 241."

Gantu threw down a capture container with a shoulder strap and started toward the elevator.

Reluctantly, Stitch flung the container over his shoulder and took off after Gantu.

625, seeing the two of them run past him spoke out. "Are you sure taking him with you is a good idea?"

"I'm sure it's a better idea than taking you with me." Gantu responded, and he pressed the descend button on the elevator, leaving 625 behind.

* * *

It was early afternoon at downtown Kokua, or what passed as downtown at Kokua. It consisted of a grocery store, a video store, a post office, a small privately owned theatre, a tiny hardware store, and pizzeria, a sushi bar, and two trinket shops. 

Today there seemed to be an unusual occurrence. A small group of children had gathered around a bench in front of the grocery store where they were ogling at the abilities of a strange creature sitting there to correctly rewrite jumbled phrases in only a few seconds.

241 was silver and white, and looked like Stitch, except taller, had smaller nose, shorter ears, and a more pointed head.

"I wanna give him mine next!" One of the girls yelled out, and pushed her way through the others to hand him a piece of paper on which was written, _eth iqkuc wrnob fxo pmdeju oerv eht zayl gdo_.

241 looked at the paper for only two seconds before grabbing a pen from behind his ear, scrawling a message on it and handing it back to the girl.

The kids read in awe as just below the unintelligible mass of letters was written, _the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog_.

"Me next" shouted out a tall boy, and handed the experiment his paper saying, _Ni DA 0121, arw swa negnbigni. Thaw phenap?_

This time it took 241 even shorter to scribble down his work and hand back to the tall boy a paper saying, _In AD 2101, war was beginning. What happen?_

The kids read the paper and marveled at how anyone or anything could solve word jumbles so fast, not noticing the two figures walking up behind them.

All the kids and 241 turned around to look when they heard the words, "Withdraw from the creature now or I will vaporize all of you!"

Gantu stood behind the group with his blaster pointed at them. At his side was Stitch, still with the capture container slung around his shoulder.

The group of kids stood there for a few seconds staring at Gantu. So he turned his blaster toward a lime green VW Beetle and shot it. The car exploded into a thirty-foot high fireball with charred bits of metal flying in all directions.

The children screamed and ran. 241, trying to escape, fell over the back of the bench onto the ground. Before he could get up, 241 found himself shoved inside a clear tube, the lid sealed shut, and thrown over the shoulder of what he could only tell was a slightly shorter, slightly bluer, fellow experiment.

Stitch returned to Gantu's side, who holstered his blaster saying, "I can't believe how easy this was! It seems capturing experiments really isn't hard work after all." Gantu turned toward Stitch. "So long as you don't have the ultimate experiment trying to stop you at every turn."

Stitch drooped his ears and lowered his head. He was not about to back down though. His shame wouldn't last forever. After not too long of Gantu's treatment, he should feel nothing at all.

And then the worst thing Stitch could have imagined happening at that moment happened. He suddenly saw Lilo walking down the street toward him.

Not now! Stitch couldn't lay his eyes upon Lilo now. Not while he still had a heart. Not while he still had one hundred thousand years of grief to look forward to.

But it was too late. Lilo had caught sight of them, and was running after Stitch.

Gantu drew his blaster and took aim at Lilo. He didn't fire though, not when Stitch put the back of his hand to Gantu's leg.

"Stitch take care of Lilo." He said.

Gantu nodded and holstered his blaster just as Lilo reached Stitch.

"Stitch!" she cried and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Stitch where have you been? What are you doing? Why are you taking that experiment back with Gantu?"  
Stitch didn't move as Lilo sobbed and beat on his chest. He just stared at her with a blank expression.

Gantu watched and a look of distrust and anger swept across his face.

Stitch raised his hand. Lilo looked up at his face, and then up at the hand, and shook her head.

Lilo stared into Stitch's eyes. His own eyes widened and began watering. His ears drooped down and he began to lower his hand. Just as quickly, his eyes narrowed again, he raised his hand, and hit Lilo across the face, knocking her onto the ground and leaving a crimson paw-shaped mark.

Lilo couldn't bring herself to say anything, only to stare at Stitch with tears streaming down her cheeks. Once again, Stitch's eyes widened and began to water, but he shook his head and turned away, walking back to Gantu's side.

"Perhaps I've misjudged you 626." Gantu said with a smile. "Let's go back home."

Lilo watched in shock as Stitch and Gantu turned and walked out of sight.

* * *

625 sat at the main terminal of Gantu's bridge playing some kind of game when he heard the sound of the ascending elevator and hopped out of the seat. 

The elevator arrived, on it stood a very proud Gantu, and next to him a seemingly exhausted Stitch with a full capture container on his back.

"I have to say I was quite pleasantly surprised with 626's behavior." Gantu Said.

Stitch closed his eyes and dropped the capture container onto the floor.

"Wow!" 625 said. "My cous' really helped you capture an experiment?"

Gantu walked up to 625, "Yes he did. In fact, I'm thinking of having him replace you. From now on, while we're out experiment hunting, you can stay behind and play your stupid games!"

625's face lit up when he heard those words. "Really? You would let me do that? SWEET!" 625 then jumped and twirled in the air, and then ran back to the terminal to continue his game.

Gantu frowned, "That's not quite the reaction I had in mind but…" upon saying those words Ganut turned toward Stitch.

Stitch didn't look up.

"626! From now on, you have both my trust, and my gratitude." Gantu told him. "As thanks, tonight, I'll be making you a great dinner, and a large padded bed next to my own."

Kindness. That got Stitch's attention.

This was not what Stitch wanted. He couldn't let anyone be kind to him, ever. He couldn't risk letting himself become attached to anyone. He couldn't live here anymore. He couldn't live anywhere anymore.

Stitch pressed the descend button the elevator and rode down to the hull entrance with 241.

Gantu was not paying attention as he walked forward and continued speaking. "To celebrate a turning point in my career. Maybe I'll make us all a tropical pot roast with mashed…" and as Gantu turned around to look back at Stitch he instead saw an empty elevator shaft, and finnished. "...sweet potatoes."

* * *

The hours passed by as Stitch waited at the mouth of Gantu's ship sitting ontop of the capture container that held 241. Stitch jumped and turned around at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. 625 was smiling at him with a Montecristo in his hand. 

"Hey there cous'!" he told Stitch. "You're meal of honor's getting cold and captain cod up there's startin to worry about ya. Oh by the way, I made a few Montecristos to go along with it."

A meal of honor? This was finally too much for Stitch to bare. In the blink of an eye he grabbed the Montecristo from 625's hand and threw it in his face.

As if it was an alien parasite, 625 held the sandwich to his face and stumbled around the room screaming into it.

Stitch jumped off his capture container and with a chop, cracked it open, grabbed 241 and threw him into the pond.

Stitch smiled for only a second as 241 swam to shore and then ran away in fright. Stitch then took off into the palm forest, leaving Gantu, his meal of honor, his bed, and 625 still stumbling around screaming into a Montecristo he was pressing into his face, all behind.


	4. Highlander Blues

They would be looking for him now. Now that he was a nomad once again, they would be looking for him, and they would never stop until they found him. They had forgiven him for worse before, and if something were not done to rectify the situation, this time would be no different. Something had to be done to show them that they could never take him back, no matter how much they wanted to.

Stitch looked up at the microwave, six-forty. This was usually when Nani got back from work. The clock didn't fail him. A minute later Stitch heard the familiar sound of Nani's jeep pulling into the Pelekai driveway.

Nani turned off the jeep and hopped out. Walking up the stairs to her house, humming a tune to herself. She felt something cold hitting the tip of her nose.

Nani stopped humming and looked up. The solid gray sky was finally giving way and it was just starting to rain. Nani held her hand out for a second to feel the drops, and then hustled into the protection of her covered patio where, at the door, she was greeted by a quickly scribbled note.

Nani tore the note from its pushpin and glanced over it.

_Little girl says something is being very wrong with 626. We have gone out to find him and hopefully fix problem. We probably will not be being back until next day.  
Jumba_

Without moving any other muscle, Nani dropped the note from her hand and stared into space. Her jaw began to quiver, she tried to shout something, but all she could get out was a whisper of, "Oh no."

After a few more minutes of standing at her doorway, a flash of lightning startled Nani out of her trance. She turned around to see that it was now pouring down rain. Nani looked down at the floor of the deck for a few seconds, and then realized there was nothing she could do. So she went inside.

After shutting the door behind her, Nani took a few steps forward, shook her head and whispered to herself, "Gone for the whole night. In this storm too. What am I gonna do about them."

Another flash of lightning illuminated a shadow to her left. Nani turned to find Stitch sitting on the floor of her kitchen.

Stitch had the unmistakable look of fear and weariness in his eyes. Stitch was in pain. That much Nani could tell for sure.

Nani walked over to Stitch and then reached down to pet him, when a slight growl made her pull her hand back.

"Naga touch Stitch." He said softly.

"Stitch." Nani tried to speak as gently as possible, unaware that it was only making Stitch more upset. "Everyone else is looking for you. What happened? Is there anyway I can help?"

"Ih!" Stitch nodded. "Nani can help."

"How?"

Stitch looked up at her and tried his best glare at her menacingly, but he couldn't hide the lingering fear and sorrow in his eyes.

"Be mean to Stitch!" He shouted. "Make Stitch hate Nani!"

Nani stared at Stitch for some time with a raised eyebrow. Why would Stitch say something like that? Nani had to respond somehow. Stitch's eyes still gave a hint of despair behind their mask of hate.

"No!" Nani said at last, "I won't. Stitch, tell me what's wrong. I can help you."

"You cannot help Stitch." He whispered back. "Nobody can help Stitch. And if Nani will not be mean to Stitch." Stitch looked back up, this time with a face of true anger, as he screamed, "Than I will make Nani be mean to Stitch!"

Stitch reached over to the table, and ripped one of the legs right out of its hinge. In shock, Nani fell backwards and tried to crawl back out of the kitchen. As the table fell over, Stitch used his new club to smash what was left of it, breaking the leg as well.

Stitch ran over to the fridge and tore the door off its hinges, and then grabbed the door with both hands and ripped it in half. He then grabbed the side of the fridge and threw it across the kitchen, through the wall and into the living room.

Stitch leapt up and clung to the ceiling. He ran around the edge of the kitchen tearing all the cupboards from the walls and tossing them onto the floor.

Stitch then fell from the ceiling and flipped in mid-air, landing on his feet. He looked across the kitchen, across the living room, to see Nani trying to press herself harder against the back wall.

Stitch extended his hidden arms. In each of them he held a can of spray paint.

"Stitch!" Nani shouted across the hall. "What are you planning on doing with those?"

Stitch didn't answer, but narrowed his eyes and frowned.

Stitch calmly turned around, climbed the shelf to the counter, opened the microwave, and put both cans inside.

Stitch turned around to look at Nani one last time.

Nani shook her head. Stitch nodded his.

Stitch turned back around and began to punch in numbers on the microwave. Power 10, time 99:99. He pressed start.

The microwave lit up as the cans of spray paint began rotating around on the turntable inside of it.

At hearing the sound of the microwave, Nani jumped up and ran towards the door. She rammed it open with her shoulder, and then jumped off the deck into the pouring rain, landing face first in a pool of mud.

Stitch followed, slowly walking out of the doorway, into the rain, down the steps and onto the first bend in the stairway.

Stitch folded his arms and stared down at Nani in the pool of mud.

The kitchen finally exploded. Wood, sheetrock, metal and insulation flew about what had to be a hundred feet. Stitch didn't flinch a muscle in reaction.

* * *

Stitch was laying on his back on Lilo's lap. Lilo was rubbing his belly bringing out a purr from deep in his chest. All seemed right with the world, until he opened his eyes to look at her. 

Lilo was no longer a child, she was as tall as Nani, but far, far older. Her hair had turned gray, and her face was a fine tapestry of wrinkles. Lilo's squinting eyes could barely be seen through her thick glasses. Stitch suddenly had a feeling of horror like a bone-dry ball of lead in his throat.

Stitch heaved himself off of Lilo, plopped to the floor, and looked at her once again. She was indeed as tall as Nani. She was sitting in a creaky old whicker rocking chair looking back at him

Stitch looked around, this was his home, but it too had withered with age. The paint was now peeling off the walls. The bamboo floors were almost unrecognizable with the amount of scratching and tarnishing they had received. The whole house seemed to creak and groan when Stitch took a few steps.

Stitch tried to look away from Lilo, but his eyes fixed on an equally horrible sight. Nani was sitting upright on the couch, asleep. She had a blanket covering her to her neck. But her face told all. Nani's face was even more withered than Lilo's. Instead of a fine tapestry, Nani's wrinkles looked like a tattered cobweb. Nani's hair, instead of gray, was ghostly white, and dangerously thinning. Her cheeks drooped down like hanging sacks. Nani now spent most of her time sleeping.

Stitch tried to look away from Nani, only to find Pleakly and Jumba right next to her on the couch watching some unknowable TV show.

Pleakly's skin had turned bright orange. His eye had shrunk down to only half its original size. His once long and dangly antenna had now shrunk into a hardened nub, and his fingers had become stiff, turned black, and hardened on the outside, as if they had grown a thick black shell.

Jumba looked no better. His once deep purple skin had turned a dark, dull olive. His second pair of eyes had closed permanently, sealed shut as the muscles that controlled them stopped functioning. Though still obese by any human standards, he was so much thinner than he once was. His skin no longer clung elastically to his body, but hung off of it like an oversized garment.

Stitch could only close his eyes to keep from seeing the horrible images, but they were forced open again by a voice calling out to him.

"Stitch?"

Stitch turned around and saw Lilo looking at him peculiarly. Her voice sounded like Nani's, only the slightest bit raspy, but still full of love.

Stitch tried to look away from Lilo's caring and worried expression, so painful, but he couldn't. He could only stare as Lilo talked more in that raspy voice.

"What's wrong?"

What's wrong? Stitches whole world was growing old around him. Everything was becoming warped and decrepit, and he was being left behind.

Stitch fell to his knees, raked his head with his claws, and screamed as loud as he could, "Naga! Naga! Nagaaaaaaaa!"

"Naga!" He screamed once more as he jumped into the air and fell from his nest atop a palm tree, landing on the wet ground in an awkward belly flop.

Stitch pushed himself up to his feet and looked around. He had fallen into the roadside ditch. The storm had long since passed and clouds had vanished revealing the starry night sky.

There were no buildings in the immediate area. Kokaua was a short distance down the road, so Stitch hopped up onto the pavement and started walking toward it.

* * *

Later that night, Stitch stood in front of the same bench in downtown Kokaua where he had first found 241 during his brief employment with Gantu. 

Stitch began walking down the street, wondering how, as the centuries passed, things might change.

Stitch stopped and looked at the Sushi bar. He tried to imagine how it would be different in one hundred years.

The building would be torn down, as would all others in downtown Kokaua. They would all be replaced with newer, bigger buildings. All of them would have automatic doors and locks with biometric scanners. Only at nice sit-down restaurants would food be prepared by people, everywhere else you would just tell a computer what you wanted and machines would make it for you. Every once in a while you would see a small wedge shaped robot on wheels buzzing down the sidewalk looking for litter to suck up. The little town would have grown into something just bordering on a city. Everyone would have a flying car, so the roads would no longer be used. Perhaps they would be dug up and turned into long walkway parks. Only the youngest people Stitch knew today could still possibly be alive then.

Stitch turned back to the road and continued walking. After a minute he stopped and turned toward the pizzeria. What would it look like after a thousand years?

Maybe there would be a new ice age. Hawaii, being in the tropics would not be frozen over, but still would be very cold, and covered in half a foot of snow during the winter. This would be enough to kill off all the beautiful tropical trees, shrubs and flowers Stitch had grown to love. The only things growing there now would be weeds and cold weather fruits and vegetables imported from other lands to feed what little population chose to stay there. Stitch would be surviving by digging up tubers and beans, by picking apples and nuts from the ugly brambled trees brought from the mainlands. As for the buildings, there were only a few intact ones that strange hermits would use to avoid life with others. Everyone else had finally given up on Earth and flew off onto the star system to live on gargantuan space stations and terraformed planets and moons.. All the other buildings had been reduced to skeletons wrapped in dead vines and weeds.

Stitch lowered his head and sighed. He continued to walk down the street until he found himself at the edge of downtown, standing in front of the last of two trinket shops. He looked in the window and imagined what the world must be like after a hundred thousand years.

Humans had long ago forsaken Earth entirely, and were now nothing more than one of the many strange faces you might run across in a busy part of galactic society. And it showed. Everything humans had ever built had long ago wasted away into nothing, and the wilds had reclaimed every last square inch of the planet. There was nothing but the dense jungle now. A jungle, though it looked nothing like the ones he and Lilo would hike through so long ago. Stitch was now living with the wild animals, as a wild animal, hunting and foraging to keep alive, constantly having to drive away invaders from his prime territory. There was no one and nothing he could talk to that would reply with anything more than a growl, a bark, or a squawk. That was how Stitch would live out his final years, as a wild animal in the jungles of some forgotten, insignificant planet with no one and nothing that could ever be important to him.

Something snapped Stitch's attention back to reality, what it was would never be known, but what would come of it was clear. Stitch looked at the do-dads and things in the window of the trinket shop until his eyes came upon a wakizashi with a cherry red handle and sheeth. Without hesitating, Stitch broke the window, grabbed the sword, and ran off into the night.

* * *

Standing at small grassy hill overlooking the ocean was Stitch, staring up at the half moon, gripping tightly his stolen wakizashi. 

Stitch looked back down at his sword. He unsheathed it and held it straight sideways, blade facing up. He then looked back up at the half moon and began whispering to himself.

"Ohana means family." He said. "Family means nobody gets left behind."

Stitch sneered at the comment and retorted himself. "Nobody gets left behind Miga Patookie!"

Stitch looked back at the blade of the wakizashi, looking at his reflection, and the reflection of the moon on its polished surface.

Stitch continued to whisper to himself. "Miga Conner MacLeod of Clan MacLeod. Miga cannot die."

With that, Stitch swung the sword at his own neck, knowing exactly what would happen.

The blade shattered like glass and sharp fragments of metal flew into the air like large pieces of glitter. All that was left of the sword was a broken handle, and a small cut on Stitch's neck, like a papercut, that couldn't even be seen through his fur.

Stitch sighed, dropped the handle, and then walked away.


	5. Nobody Gets Left Behind

Dawn had just broke a few hours earlier. A buggy drove down the street at the edge of Kokaua. Jumba drove the buggy with only his left hand, and held a twenty-four ounce coffee in his right, with only twelve ounces left. The spaghettified pleakly was curled up into a spiral in the passenger seat. In the back seat, Lilo and Finder leaned against each other fast asleep and snoring, Lilo with a paw shaped bruise on her check, and Finder with a black eye.

The buggy turned up a dirt path and parked next to a jeep in front of a stilted house. Lilo and Finder opened heir eyes at the sudden haulting of the engine. They looked at each other in confusion, and then looked toward Jumba in he front seat once they remembered where they were.

Jumba reached over Pleakly to open the passenger side door. He carefully unbuckled Pleakly from his seat, and then shoved him out of the car onto the ground.

Pleakly hit the ground and woke up screaming in fright. "Ahhh! I've been dropped into the bottomless bleeding walled dungeons of Ty-Fira!"

"Actually," Jumba interrupted, "You have been dropped into dirt ground of sub-home parking edifice."

Jumba giggled at his own remark, ignoring the glare of contempt Pleakly gave him, but then turned around to look at Lilo and Finder, and noticed their looks of tedium and fatigue. Jumba thought of what the two of them had just been through, and it was easy to put two and two together.

Jumba stared at them a little bit longer before giving in to their expressions and saying, "Errr… Is not being very funny."

Lilo looked out at the jeep next to the buggy, and at the peeling wall next to the jeep, and then turned back toward Jumba.

"We can't stop now." Lilo told Jumba. "We have to go back and find him again! We've gotta get through to him somehow."

Finder turned toward Lilo, who turned toward him, and shook his head at her.

Pleakly got back up to his feet and spoke to Lilo. "If the little monster doesn't want us anymore than I say leave him be. There's no sense in trying to force something like that to do anything anyway."

Finder turned toward Pleakly and nodded at him, and was met with a scolding grimace when he turned back toward Lilo. Finder drooped his ears.

"But he does want us!" Lilo lundged forward and grabbed Pleakly by the collar. Finder shoved himself into the corner of the buggy in reaction.

Lilo continued while crying, "He's just scared that's all!"

Pleakly scrambled his arms about trying to pry Lilo loose of his collar, and when he finally succeeded, he responded, "And what exactly does he of all things have to be afraid of?"

"I don't know…" Lilo said, sitting back down and burying her face in her arms. "But he's afraid of something."

Jumba butted in. "Is best now to be going inside and getting sleep. We can be continuing debate later in day with fresh minds. Not even evil genius can be solving such mystery while sleep deprived."

"But!" Lilo pleaded.

Jumba wouldn't have it. "There will be no butting the issue. There is no more we can be doing at moment."

Lilo lowered her head, closed her eyes and hugged her knees. Finder waddled over to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

Before too long, Lilo found herself lifted up into the massive rubbery arms of Jumba and carried off toward the house. She didn't react until heard Jumba utter the words, "What the…"

Lilo looked up. The whole left third of her house was in pieces all with burnt tips. All the major kitchen appliances, the sink, the stove, were all on the ground and half melted. The roof had collapsed in on the middle of the house, and the impact had dislodged half the floorboards. Only the right side of the house, where all the bedrooms were located was intact.

Lilo immediately jumped out of Jumba's arms and ran into the wreckage of her house screaming, "Nani!"

Jumba, Pleakly, and Finder hurriedly followed.

Nani sat cross-legged in the middle of the rubble sobbing into her arms. Her clothes were almost shredded, and she was covered in scrapes and caked with dried mud.

Lilo ran to Nani and jumped into her lap.

Nani looked up to see Lilo, and Juma, Pleakly, and Finder all staring at her in shock and disbelief.

"What happened?" Lilo asked.

It took Nani some time to answer. "It was Stitch. He did this."

"626 must be reverting back to original destructive programming." Jumba interrupted.

Lilo turned back toward Jumba and shouted at him. "No he's not! I already told you, he's scared! That's why he's doing these things!"

Nani looked back down at Lilo, and with her head turned, saw the paw shapd bruise on her cheek.

Nani grabbed hold of Lilo and pressed her against her chest.

"Lilo! Honey! What did he do to you?" She said.

Lilo struggled to pull away from Nani. When Nani let go, she retorted, "I saw him with Gantu, I ran after him but he slapped me. But it's nothing, we gotta go try and help him again!"

"Again!" Nani shouted as she grabbed Lilo's shoulders. "What do you mean again?"

Lilo again tried to break free of Nani's grasp as she said, "We got Finder to find him, but he said he didn't want us anymore and then he hit Finder and ran away!"

"No Lilo!" Nani shouted back as she tried to restrain her sister against her struggling. "Let him go! He's too dangerous now!"

"But he might try to hurt himself!" Lilo shouted back.

"At least then he won't hurt us anymore!"

Lilo went limp at Nani's words, and turned toward her.

Nani's face was filled with a great sadness and fatigue. But what there was a distinct lack of fear. Nani tried to hide these feelings, but Lilo saw right through her.

"You know he's just scared too, don't you?" Lilo said to Nani. "What did he tell you? Spit it out!"

Nani lowered her head. There was no use trying to hide it anymore.

Nani didn't lift her head as she spoke. "He said, he wanted me to be mean to him, that he wanted me to make him hate me. When I told him no, he did this to the kitchen."

Lilo, Pleakly, and Jumba turned to look at the empty space where the kitchen used to be.

Nani continued, "He's afraid of being loved. Don't ask me why 'cause I don't know."

Lilo looked up at the sky. "But what would make anyone be afraid of being loved?"

Pleakly walked up to Lilo and put his hand on her head. Lilo looked up at Pleakly in response.

"The only thing I can think of…" Pleakly said, "is that he's afraid of losing his love."

Lilo's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. It was as if she was just struck by lightning.

"That's it!" Lilo tried to shout, but all that came out was a whisper. "He doesn't want to be near us because he's afraid of losing us!"

"What?" Pleakly, Jumba, and Nani all said in unison, and Finder cocked his head as if wanting to say the same.

Lilo pushed herself off of Nani's lap and turned around to face Jumba and Pleakly. "Highlander. It all started with Highlander."

Jumba, Pleakly and Nani just looked at Lilo confused.

Lilo continued. "After watching that movie, I told Stitch what dad used to say about dying. He said that the only thing worse than dying was living forever, because you'll outlive everyone you know, an you'll miss them for all eternity."

Jumba's face went blank, mimicking the face Lilo made just moments earlier when she finally realized what was going on.

Jumba interrupted Lilo's speech. "Now it is making sense. Just day after little girl and 626 watched inappropriate movie, 626 came to me and asked what I designed for to be his lifespan!"

"What was it?" Lilo asked.

"I was not remembering. I wrote those lifespan genes twenty seven Earth years ago and since had only copy and pasted them onto later experiments."

"Well what did you tell him?" Lilo asked again.

"I told 626 that I would most likely be making experiments living as long as possible. And that as long as possible would be… … just… over… one hundred thousand Earth years."

Nani looked up at Jumba confused. "Stitch is gonna live a hundred thousand years?"

"I am not knowing!" Jumba shouted with his hands in the air. "It was wild guess! I was trying to be getting 626 to be leaving me alone!"

Lilo lowered her head and slowly shook it. "How could anyone cope with living a hundred thousand years?" She whispered to herself. Then with eyes wide and her teeth clenched, Lilo swung her head back up to Jumba and Pleakly and said, "Oh my god! Stitch is gonna kill himself!"

"How could a monster like that possibly kill himself?" Pleakly asked no one in particular.

Though Jumba responded, "Either by swallowing and remote detonating high yield explosive, or a far easier way would be being to..."

"He's gonna drown himself!" Lilo shouted, interrupting Jumba.

"Jumba!" Lilo continued. "Grab your computer and figure out how long Stitch is gonna live! I gotta know before we find him!"

In a snap, they were off, all toward the jeep beneath the ruined house, except Jumba, who was off to his room in search of his computer.

Soon Lilo, Jumba, Pleakly and finder were all in the jeep, with Nani on the ground outside holding onto the driver's side door.

"Don't do this!" Nani cried out to the carpool. "It's better this way! It's better for us, and it's better for Stitch!"

But they would respond to none of her pleas.

"At least take me with you!" was the last thing Nani got out before the jeep's ignition was started.

* * *

On a tall, rocky ledge overlooking the churning ocean at the end of Kauai, the wind howled and rustled the fur of Stitch standing just at the cliff's edge. 

Stitch gazed as if mesmerized at a photograph taken just a year earlier. The photo showed his family at Christmas. He and Lilo sat next to each other beneath a fake plastic tree, each of them with a present in hand. Nani and Pleakly stood side by side in the doorway to the kitchen, and Jumba had just walked in the front door dressed as Santa Claus. Everyone in the photograph had the most delightful smile on their face.

Stitch slid his hand down the surface of the photograph, finally resting it on Lilo's image.

Stitch began to talk, pausing between words and being careful to pronounce everything correctly as he always did when he spoke in pure English.

"Goodbye Ohana." He said. "It has been good… yeah. It was very, very good. But it cannot be anymore."

Stitch let the photograph go and watched it drift into the horizon as far as his heightened vision could track.

Then with a great sigh, Stitch closed his eyes and whispered, "The only thing worse than dying, is living forever."

Stitch then threw up his hands, and leapt into the air off the cliff.

As the wind pressed against his face, all the burdens Stitch had ever felt suddenly melted away, and he found himself lost in a world perfect bliss. He was finally free. He was finally free from the grief of a hundred thousand years of being alone. He was finally free from the cruel responsibility of murdering his feelings, and never letting anyone or anything threaten to resurrect them. He was finally free to die.

But just as Stitch had began to plummet toward his watery release, something had grabbed him by the ears and yanked him back to the hard rocky ledge he had just been standing on.

Stitch heaved himself off of his back and turned around. It was Lilo, she had stopped him from committing suicide.

Behind Lilo was her backpack, Jumba, Pleakly, Nani, and Finder, who was hiding behind Nani's leg.

Stitch's eyes began to water uncontrollably. He Shoved Lilo to the ground. Nani tried to run to Lilo's side, but Jumba restrained her and covered her mouth.

"Miga naga wanna live hundred thousand years!" Stitch bawled out at Lilo. "Miga wanna die! Miga nagga wanna get left behind!"

"But you're not going to be left behind!" Lilo told him. "Jumba remembered how long you're gonna live. It's not a hundred thousand years!"

Lilo got back up. Stitch stared at her with a blank face for what seemed to be hours. Stitch began shivering, his teeth chattering, and his fists clenched in anger.

"Naga!" He screamed at Lilo, making her fall over again. "Is trick! Lilo lies!"

"It's not a trick! I'll show you!"

Lilo turned around and took Jumba's laptop out of her backpack. She opened it, pressed one button, and tuned back around to show Stitch what was on the monitor.

Jumba stood in an unfamiliar lab wearing unfamiliar clothes, with unfamiliar black hair streaming down his neck and shoulders.

The image began to move.

_"Video diary of Dr. Jumba Jookiba. I have just completed construction on genetic experiment zero zero eight. I am now confident enough in my skills to be creating experiments with actual purposes now. Soon, I will create and control the ultimate weapon! HA!HA!HAA!_

_But… one can never forget the unfortunate side of supposed ultimate weapons. You can never keep other people from getting their greedy little appendages on them. This is why my new weapons must be unique, and only to be controlled by me. The only way of ensuring this, is for to be creating experiments that can never outlive myself."_

Lilo closed Jumba's laptop and walked toward Stitch. She stopped when Stitch began inching his way back toward the cliff edge.

Jumba, still restraining a now relaxed Nani, spoke up. "Factoring in average lifespan of Kwelta-Kwanians, as well as my own age when I first designed experiment zero zero nine, later experiment lifespans would logically be ninety-five to one hundred and five Earth years."

Stitch continued to stare at the group without any kind of expression.

"I conformed this by reanalyzing later experiment lifespan gene sequences." Jumba continued. "You 626, will only be living ninety-five to one hundred and five Earth years."

Lilo bent down and began to crawl up to Stitch. This time, Stitch didn't move.

"That's only a little bit longer than most people live." Lilo reassured him. "And I bet it won't be too long before most people will live that long to."

"If was not true." Jumba said. "I would be telling you to go ahead and jump. You are knowing me better than I am knowing myself 626. You are knowing I am telling truth. Is being quite ironic yes? That something good has been coming from my period of evil wickedness."

Just like last time, Stitch began shivering, his teeth chattering. Unlike last time, his arms and legs became weak and felt like they were going to collapse beneath him, and his eyes began to pour down tears. Stitch threw himself at Lilo, knocking her over a third time, wrapping his arms around her as he bawled away into her chest.

Jumba released his grip on Nani, and they, Pleakly, and Finder slowly walked up to Lilo and Stitch and surrounded them.

"Miga soka!" Was all Stitch could say through his crying. Over and over again.

"Miga soka!  
Miga soka!  
Miga soka!  
Miga soka!  
Miga soka!"

* * *

That night, Stitch lay in his bed, still afraid, afraid of being alone. Despite what he had learned that day he was still so afraid. He lay in that bed for hours staring into space with a look of despair on his face, and his ears drooped down. Stitch was limp; he was empty. 

Though he was told he would never be left behind, Stitch was still full of doubt and confusion, and empty of anything else.

Stitch simply lay in his bed, not paying attention to anything. Not to Lilo sleeping at the opposite end of the room, not to the various smells that always permeated the dome, not to the sounds of Nani mumbling in her sleep in her room downstairs, not to the darkness of the night, not to the wind howling outside, not to the soft humming of alien power tools as Jumba stayed up late rebuilding the kitchen that Stitch had destroyed the day before in a desperate attempt to get his own Ohana to loath him. Stitch simply lay limp in his bed, staring into space, full of doubt and confusion, and empty of anything else.

Stitch couldn't hold out forever, his exhaustion from running away, from so many intense emotions in such a short time, from the relief of finding out the truth, and now from his lingering doubts, finally got to him, and he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.

Stitch had one last dream that night.

He was laying on his back on Lilo's lap. Lilo was rubbing his belly bringing out a purr from deep in his chest. All seemed right with the world, until he opened his eyes to look at her.

Lilo was no longer a child, she was as tall as Nani, but far, far older. Her hair had turned gray, and her face was a fine tapestry of wrinkles. Lilo's squinting eyes could barely be seen through her thick glasses. Stitch suddenly had a feeling of horror like a bone-dry ball of lead in his throat.

Stitch heaved himself off of Lilo, plopped to the floor, and looked at her once again. She was indeed as tall as Nani. She was sitting in a creaky old whicker rocking chair looking back at him

Stitch looked around, this was his home, but it too had withered with age. The paint was now peeling off the walls. The bamboo floors were almost unrecognizable with the amount of scratching and tarnishing they had received. The whole house seemed to creak and groan when Stitch took a few steps.

Stitch tried to look away from Lilo, but his eyes fixed on an equally horrible sight. Nani was sitting upright on the couch, asleep. She had a blanket covering her to her neck. But her face told all. Nani's face was even more withered than Lilo's. Instead of a fine tapestry, Nani's wrinkles looked like a tattered cobweb. Nani's hair, instead of gray, was ghostly white, and dangerously thinning. Her cheeks drooped down like hanging sacks. Nani now spent most of her time sleeping.

Stitch tried to look away from Nani, only to find Pleakly and Jumba right next to her on the couch watching some unknowable TV show.

Pleakly's skin had turned bright orange. His eye had shrunk down to only half its original size. His once long and dangly antenna had now shrunk into a hardened nub, and his fingers had become stiff, turned black, and hardened on the outside, as if they had grown a thick black shell.

Jumba looked no better. His once deep purple skin had turned a dark, dull olive. His second pair of eyes had closed permanently, sealed shut as the muscles that controlled them stopped functioning. Though still obese by any human standards, he was so much thinner than he once was. His skin no longer clung elastically to his body, but hung off of it like an oversized garment.

Stitch could only close his eyes to keep from seeing the horrible images, but they were forced open again by a voice calling out to him.

"Stitch?"

Stitch turned around and saw Lilo looking at him peculiarly. Her voice sounded like Nani's, only the slightest bit raspy, but still full of love.

Stitch tried to look away from Lilo's caring and worried expression, so painful, but he couldn't. He could only stare as Lilo talked more in that raspy voice.

"What's wrong?"

What's wrong? Stitches whole world was growing old around him. Everything was becoming warped and decrepit, and he was being left behind.

… … … Or was he?

"Meega gotta' look in mirror." Was all Stitch could say, and with that he turned away and walked up to the bathroom.

Stitch slowly turned the tarnished brass knob to the bathroom and opened the door. He walked inside and put his hands to the walls.

One slow step after another, Stitch climbed the bathroom wall toward the sink counter, toward the bathroom mirror, praying to whatever the hell kind of god these humans believed in that what he would see wouldn't be himself.

As Stitch finally sat down on the counter, his eyes shut tight, he took one huge breath, and mustered enough courage to look at his reflection.

What he saw was indeed Stitch, but was not the painful, lonely image that he had anticipated. Instead, the image of himself finally brought him the peace and comfort he so desperately sought.

The once baby blue rings around his eyes had now turned gray, as had the stripes on his back. The fur was gray halfway down his now frayed ears, as was the fur on his fingertips. His once navy muzzle had now changed to a drab tan. But the most striking thing about the image were his eyes. Once they had been solid black, glistening like diamonds, now they had fogged over into dull blue patches.

Stitch's whole world had indeed grown old around him. But there was no need to be frightened or lonely, because he had grown old with it.

A sudden crashing sound from the kitchen downstairs jolted Stitch awake. Jumba's repairs seemed to not have been going so smoothly. Stitch looked over at Lilo who was still asleep.

Lilo was just a child again. Stitch was a vibrant juvenile experiment again. Everyone and everything was back to their original selves. And he and Lilo could now look forward to growing old... together.

Stitch whispered to himself, "Ohana means family. Family means, nobody gets left behind."

Stitch knew for sure now that he would never be left behind.

Stitch finally felt safe enough to extend his hidden arms, climb up the wall, across the ceiling, over to Lilo's bed, and lay down, pressing his body against hers.

Still asleep, Lilo flung her arm over Stitch's waist and sighed.

At last, Stitch closed his eyes and whispered once more, "Nobody gets left behind."

And he never was.

_-FIN_

* * *

**To my Reviewers**

**To A. Nonymous**: I actually didn't use your suggestion in my story. I had this entire fic planned out in my head before I even began writing. That's what I do with all of my stories. Writing to me is little more than filling in all the missing details.  
In fact, Stitch wasn't really trying to hurt himself with that wakizashi. He knew it wouldn't do anything to him. He was just trying to put his feelings into actions.

**To Ri2**: You seemed the most concerned about what was going to happen to Stitch in the end. I assured you there was going to be a happy ending and there was.

**To Isumo1489**: Same thing.

**To Michelle/Spiritofdawolf**: Thank you for your greatful review. I live off reviews and without them I would probably starve to death. I think what you said can keep me going another week or so.

**To anonames**: Here's the happy ending you wanted. Now go take a goddamn grammar lesson!

**To all my readers and reviewers**: This is the first of what I hope will be many Lilo and Stitch fanfics. Keep on the lookout for my next one, which will be titled "Empire of the Pacific." It won't be quite as much of a tearjerker as this one. But it will be much larger, much more epic, and will have a liberal injection of great action sequences and fight scenes.


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